Language and hand: The dimension of referential competence1

Abstract

Kinesic and verbal performance data were collected for two groups of women college seniors chosen to represent extremes in a type of verbal ability termed here referential competence. This ability is conceptualized in terms of degree of integration of symbolic and ikonic representation systems, i.e., the strength of the symbol-referent links in semantic memory. A criterion measure of referential competence was developed using deviation of color naming from word-reading times on the Stroop Color-Word test. Referential competence was shown to be statistically as well as conceptually unrelated to both the standard verbal intelligence and fluency measures, and to cognitive style. During a five-minute videotaped monologue about a personal experience, persons high in referential competence produced verbal material which was specific, vivid, and objective; in contrast to the subjective and general material of the low referential group; and also produced approximately three times as many object-focused hand movements, linked to rhjrthm and intonation pattems of speech but largely without decipherable content. The results suggest that motor schema have a continuing Intrinsic role in mature speech production, related to structure rather than content of language.

The role of gestures in description-communication: A cross-sectional study of aging

“…Bucci and Freedman (1978) have described a measure of verbal ability, specifically referential competence, which refers to the strength of object-to-word links in semantic memory. This ability is operationally defined by latencies in a Stroop color naming task, adjusted for individual differences in word reading speed.…”

“…(2) Mapping these observations onto Bucci and Freedman's (1978) model leads to elderly subjects being classified as having low referential competence, and young subjects as having high referential competence. (3) Bucci and Freedman's (1978) model can be extended to deal with descriptive and non-descriptive gestures.…”

“…(2) Mapping these observations onto Bucci and Freedman's (1978) model leads to elderly subjects being classified as having low referential competence, and young subjects as having high referential competence. (3) Bucci and Freedman's (1978) model can be extended to deal with descriptive and non-descriptive gestures. In its strong form, our proposal is that the production of descriptive gestures tends to be driven by a visual or visuomotor imagery system, whereas the production of non-descriptive gestures tends to be driven by the speech system.…”

Referential processing: Reciprocity and correlates of naming and imaging

“…Such code switching has been termed referential processing (Paivio, 1971(Paivio, , 1986 or referential activity (Bucci, 1984;Bucci & Freeman, 1978), and it is reflected most directly in picture-naming and word-imaging tasks. Referential processing is implicated as well in memory of pictures and words, symbolic comparisons, language comprehension, cognitive deficits after brain damage (e.g., Kosslyn, 1987;Thompson, Hall, & Sison, 1986), and other cognitive phenomena, and it raises important conceptual issues on which contemporary theories of mental representation differ.…”

Language and kinesic complexity

“…Thus, Baxter, Winters and Hammer (1968) showed that the more fluently a person could talk about some topic and the more thoroughly they knew the topic, the more complex their gestural expression was observed to be. Bucci and Freedman (1978) showed that persons who showed more creativity in language use when recounting episodes from their life of personal significance, were also more elaborate in their use of manual actions while speaking. Gullberg (1998) reported that the more fluent learners of a second language were, the more they employed gestures that expressed referential content of their discourse.…”